The 6 Best Kitchen Faucets The Spruce Has Tested

The Delta Leland Touch Kitchen Faucet is equal parts form and function, and we’re fully convinced it should be the standard for all faucets going forward, making it our top pick.

This faucet, which lives in our senior editor Marisa Viglione's home, can be turned on and off in a few different ways. Like a traditional kitchen faucet, you can adjust the handle at the base, or you can touch anywhere on the handle or neck. Don't be confused: this isn’t a touchless faucet, but it offers a lot of the same perks as one, since you can use your wrist or arm to turn the water on instead of messy or full hands.

Notably, the faucet isn't too sensitive or hard to trigger, either—tap it about as hard as you would your keys on your iPhone when texting, and it'll turn on. After four minutes, the faucet will also turn itself off if it thinks it's been running for too long, almost as if to say, "Did you leave this on by accident? Are you still watching?"

When it’s on, a colored light at the base also signals what temperature the water is: blue for cold, purple for in-between, and red for hot. The handle also is really smooth, making for easy temperature adjustments.

Like some of our other favorite pull-down options, the sprayer is just the spout detached. It’s a cinch to both detach it and move it around, and a button on the back allows you to switch the sprayer between one of three different modes: shower, stream, and this circular-ish mode that's great for applying a lot of water pressure to a particular spot or stain. The faucet's water pressure in general is very strong; our editor found that water will spray onto your countertops if you have the faucet set too high. 

It’s worth noting that, like some of our favorite touchless faucets, there is a battery pack powering the touch feature. We ended up switching out the batteries every six months, because this faucet gets a ton of daily use. Notably, the colored light at the base blinks red when the battery is about to die so you can prepare.

At over $300, this faucet is also pricier than others we’ve tested and love. However, it's one of those products that is worth the price tag and we've seen it go on sale. To top it all of, our editor had family over who loved the faucet so much they bought one themselves—so this pick is a certified fan favorite.

Material: Brass | Finish: Chrome, stainless steel, SpotShield stainless steel, bronze | Number of Handles: 1 | Number of Holes: 1 | Faucet Height: 15.38 inches | Spout Height: 14 inches | Spout Reach: 9.2 inches | Flow Rate: 1.8 GPM

The BioBidet Flow Pull-Down Sprayer Faucet is an absolute game-changer if you're going from a regular faucet to a touchless one. It will have you raving about your kitchen faucet at get-togethers with friends, thanks to its flawless design and performance. Its price tag sits right in the middle for kitchen faucets, too, at under $250 at time of publish, making it a great overall value.

Throughout our months of testing, this touchless faucet stayed in pristine condition since the lack of contact makes it super easy to keep it smudge and scuff-free. You don’t have to worry about any germs lingering on it if you’re washing your hands after handling raw foods—which is a big reason why touchless kitchen faucets are becoming increasingly popular.

In our experience, the sensor is satisfyingly sensitive, and we didn't have any issues with automatically turning it on (the same can't be said for our cat, however—so if you have any pets prone to jumping on the counter, be warned that they might accidentally activate it and startle themselves!).

We also loved how, in addition to the motion-activated hand sensor, you can pull the spray head down and the faucet will automatically turn on. This makes rinsing dishes practically a one-step process. The spray options are powerful, too—melted cheese, for example, rinses right off of dishes.

You won’t need to hardwire this faucet since it relies on batteries (though, keep in mind that you will need to replace or recharge the batteries every six months or so, which is common with any touchless or touch option, including our overall best). We did, however, find that the installation process wasn’t quite as smooth as others had mentioned. We were glad to have a plumber handle it.

Material: Brass | Finish: Brushed nickel, chrome, or bronze | Number of Handles: 1 | Number of Holes: 1, 3 | Faucet Height: 15.5 inches | Spout Height: 15.5 inches | Spout Reach: 8.5 inches | Flow Rate: 1.8 GPM

If your priority is giving your kitchen an aesthetically pleasing update, and you’re not after the tech features offered by some of our other picks, look no further than the Wewe Single-Handle High Arc Pull-Out Kitchen Faucet. Its sleek and attractive design fits right in with most contemporary kitchen styles, and we found that it’s practical and versatile.

With buttons on the nozzle to easily switch between stream, spray, and pause modes in a flash, you can zip through most kitchen chores. The stream and spray modes are great for cleaning, as shown by their ability to wipe protein powder residue from our bottles and grease from the bottom of our pots, and the pause mode is handy if you’re trying to avoid big splashes.

Installation was a breeze for an experienced kitchen installer who aided us in the process, and the faucet hose reaches up to 24 inches, which is great for filling pots. (We used it with a 5-gallon jug meant for filling up a cold plunge tub and had no trouble.)

The one note we have about this faucet is that some of the finishes, like the brushed-nickel one we have, show fingerprints easily. The flip side to the finish, however, is that the faucet’s components are easy to clean with a quick wipe. Overall, we think this is a great option for households that want a simple yet chic update for their kitchen, especially given the under-$100 price point.

Material: Stainless steel | Finish: 13 options, including brushed nickel, chrome, gold, black | Number of Handles: 1 | Number of Holes: 1, 3 | Faucet Height: 15.7 inches | Spout Height: 8.5 inches | Spout Reach: 8.5 inches | Flow Rate: 1.8 GPM

With a sleek, low profile, the Grohe Eurosmart Dual Spray Pull-Out Kitchen Faucet makes a subtle choice for contemporary kitchens. It’s the only low-arc pick on our list and, with a faucet height of 7.13 inches, it’s ideal for homes that have shelving or any window sills that prevent the installation of a taller model. 

The straightforward design features a wide, flat lever. While we found the lever to be a bit stiff at first, it’s not overly sensitive to temperature adjustments. There’s also a light indicator (blue for cold, green for warm, and red for hot), which lowers your chance of being accidentally scalded by hot water—something we loved with our top pick, too, the Delta Leland Touch Kitchen Faucet.

To use the sprayer, you simply pull the faucet out toward you, and a single button on the handle controls the water flow. You can choose between a steady stream or rinse spray for washing all your dishes, your hands, or your sink. While the water pressure wasn’t the strongest, the spray easily reached into the corners of our sink, and the hose retracts smoothly and easily, too. The brushed-steel finish also doesn’t show fingerprints, unlike our best value pick.

While there could be more features with this faucet (We are big fans of touch and touchless models, if you couldn’t already tell.), this is a practical and pretty choice for households that don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, but do need a low-arc option. 

Material: Brass | Finish: Brushed steel, chrome | Number of Handles: 1 | Number of Holes: 1 | Faucet Height: 7.13 inches | Spout Height: 5.5 inches |  Spout Reach: 8.93 inches | Flow Rate: 1.75 GPM

A matte gold kitchen faucet is an easy way to elevate your kitchen’s aesthetic. The Kraus Oletto Single-Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet is available in an antique, champagne brass finish (among others), offering a super sophisticated take on the gold fixture trend.

But you’ll get more than good looks when you choose this kitchen faucet. It’s completely up to daily cleaning tasks. It has a toggle switch for stream or spray functions, and the lever for temperature control is intuitive and easy to adjust (“up” for cold and “down” for hot). The silicone spray holes are easy to clean, and some regular maintenance will keep mineral deposits from restricting water flow.

Since the gold finish of this kitchen faucet is designed to attract attention, it’s worth pointing out that Kraus uses its spot-free finish for this faucet. It helps to minimize the appearance of water spots, fingerprints, and fading—preserving the luster and beauty of this gold kitchen faucet for years to come. There is no deck plate included with this kitchen faucet, though; it’s only suitable for single-hole installation.

Speaking of installation, we tried to DIY it, and ended up getting help with tightening the parts where water leaked out. So, we recommend having a pro help you from the start so you can skip any hassles and hiccups. Looking for a finish other than gold? The faucet does also come in stainless steel, matte black (which is what we tested), and brushed bronze, among other finishes.

Material: Brass | Finish: Antique champagne brass, brushed bronze, stainless steel, chrome, matte black, brushed gold, or two-tone | Number of Handles: 1 | Number of Holes: 1 | Faucet Height: 16.63 inches | Spout Height: 8.75 inches | Spout Reach: 8.88 inches | Flow Rate: 1.8 GPM

The Kohler Sous Pro-Style Sprayer Faucet is an all-around solid pick that gives you both a professional look and superior functionality. This type of faucet is known as a "pre-rinse faucet," because it features a high-arc spout with a distinct, exposed spring that gives you added flexibility as you clean.

After months of use, the professional-style kitchen faucet proved top-notch and an easy addition to our daily routines. The installation process is straightforward and simple—requiring just 20 minutes and a few tools (we had no sink installation experience, and didn't hit any snags with setting up this faucet in our kitchen). 

The Kohler Sous Pro-Style faucet measures 22 inches high, which is taller than other picks on our list with a pull-down style, but on par for professional-style kitchen faucets. (Be sure you have enough clearance above your sink before choosing a tall kitchen faucet like this one!) The extra height houses a hose that looks and feels heavy-duty. We found it could easily reach every corner of a large, divided kitchen sink. When released, the hose quickly and securely retracts, thanks to a strong magnetic docking station.

The pull-down sprayer is the star of the show because it gives you a stream or sweep function with the push of a button. We were impressed by the sweep function, which dispenses a wide blade of water. Our only complaint is that you have to hold down the trigger for the spray function.

On two occasions during roughly six months of testing, the faucet aerator (a piece at the end of the faucet that adds air to the spray) collected some debris too, and needed to be cleaned. It took several attempts to get to the aerator because the instructions weren’t super clear, but eventually we figured it out. 

Material: Zinc | Finish: Stainless steel, chrome, brass, or matte black | Number of Handles: 1 | Number of Holes: 2 (Can be fitted for 1 to 4) | Faucet Height: 22 inches | Spout Height: 7.5 inches | Spout Reach: 9 inches | Flow Rate: 1.5 GPM